This invention relates to a food product and the method and apparatus for making same. More particularly this invention relates to a molded poultry product, and method of obtaining same from a raw foul in conjunction with the product mold.
Heretofore it was known to provide molded food products such as in Noble, U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,494, granted Oct. 30, 1962, wherein steak simulating material was molded into the appearance of a T-bone steak. And in Weatherspoon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,154, granted Oct. 7, 1975 there is also disclosed a method for preparing a natural appearing steak product.
Attempts have been made to prepare boneless poultry products having the shape of the fowl, such as disclosed in Luchese, U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,389, granted Sept. 23, 1958 and in the Jumenko patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,381 granted Dec. 8, 1959. Luchese discloses a boneless stuffed fowl formed within the skin of the fowl, and Jumenko likewise debones, but in part only, and returns the meat to the skin but provides for separate white and dark meat portions. Jumenko does not use a poultry stuffing as in Luchese but does stuff with other meat products.
While such prior art products achieved limited results, it was found desirable to provide a poultry product which is truly skinless and boneless while having the self retaining shape of cooked poultry. It was also desirable in the prior art to provide a turkey product as aforesaid which is free of added foreign meat products or poultry stuffings.
Now there is provided by the present invention a poultry product having the self-retaining shape of cooked poultry and is boneless and skinless, and composed only of the poultry itself, without foreign meats or stuffings.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a skinless, boneless poultry product having the self-retaining shape of cooked poultry, and the method and apparatus for making same.
It is another object of this invention to provide the poultry product as aforesaid, wherein the need for added foreign meats or stuffings is precluded.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a poultry product as aforesaid wherein there are separate white and dark meat sections which conform to the white and dark meat sections of conventional cooked poultry.
It is another object of this invention to provide a poultry product as aforesaid which is ready-to-eat for the consumer.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a poultry product as aforesaid wherein the product consists essentially of the natural poultry itself.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a method for making the aforesaid poultry product which method utilizes essentially the entire poultry without waste.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a mold for forming the poultry product of this invention wherein said mold permits the separate white and dark meat formations, while also permitting the cooked poultry contour.